The iPhone 7 is water resistant, but can it survive big wave surfing?

With the removal of the headphone jack (oh the horror!), Apple’s iPhone 7 is more water resistant than ever before. Sporting an IP67 rating, the iPhone 7 can survive submersion in water at a depth of 1 meter for 30 minutes straight. That’s all well and good, but it doesn’t really tell us too much about how the iPhone holds up to water in real world conditions. After all, it’s not like anyone ever decides to just drop their phone in a meter of water and let it chill there for a half hour.

So while we’ve seen iPhone 7s being put to the test by being dropped in bowls of water, it’s time to really see what the iPhone 7 is capable of withstanding. In an effort to really put the iPhone 7 to the test, the folks over at SquareTrade Labs came up with an fun little challenge and gave big wave surfer Kai Lenny an iPhone 7 to see how the device stood up to big crashing waves in a salt water environment.

To set the stage, Lenny first affixed an iPhone 6s to the front of his board and hit the ocean waters. Not surprisingly, the device stopped working just 4 minutes in. Apple’s iPhone 6 Plus model fared a little bit better, albeit just barely, as it managed to survive for nearly six minutes before its audio went out.

As for Apple’s iPhone 7 models? Well, they handled the open waters with relative ease.

SquareTrade notes:

iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus: These phones proved they live up to their water resistant claim – with both phones surviving 30 minutes in the salt water with Kai. The iPhone 7 took lead as the winner with only slight audio muffling occurring during the ride. The iPhone 7 Plus still worked after 30 minutes, but the water definitely had an impact on the audio.